On living apart from your spouse
It’s really nice knowing that, every time you see your partner, it’s because they made the choice to be with you, not just because they happened to be in the same physical location by chance anyway.
The Whippet #137: Please don’t make me fight a fire ant
Here are some animals whose existence I learned of in 2022 so far: the Sarcastic Fringehead, the Stoplight Loosejaw, the Silken Windhound, and the Raspberry Crazy Ant.
Whippet Cetera: Two ways to think about hope
One is an emotion, a sort of optimistic sensation or belief, and the other is taking action as though a good outcome is possible. You can have hope without feeling hopeful.
The Whippet #136: Please don't explain to me what a metasurface is
Today's items include: "The world’s deadliest shark is not the one you think it is, or your next two guesses" and "all muppets are left-handed"
The Whippet #135: “That’s not very sentinel chicken of you”
“Oh! Are you hungry?” Dorothy asked. “Dreadfully hungry,” answered the Tiger. “Then why don’t you eat something?” “It’s no use,” said the Tiger sadly. “I’ve tried that, but I always get hungry again.”
The Whippet #134: Those that tremble as if they were mad
We group things into arbitrary and overlapping categories: mammal, omnivore, tall. Therefore the number of categories in the world is larger than the number of things in the world.
The Whippet #133: Someone stubborn
"It’s obviously a male ghost and he’s miserable. You can imagine a tall, thin, bearded ghost hanging about the house did get on people’s nerves."
Whippet Cetera: Courage's dark counterpart
Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. Lying is the most important of the vices, because without lying you can’t practise any other vice consistently.
The Whippet #132: My books are getting ruined and birds wake me before dawn
The US postal service used to stab everyone’s mail, smoke not dirt, Song Dynasty cat poems, street pasta, burnout.
The Whippet #131: How to pick up and hold dozens of animals
Memory, poison bird, war, philosophy, fermented milk, and of course, how to pick up and hold dozens of animals.